Investors demand stronger climate treaty

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GLOBAL - Investors responsible for more than $13trn (€8.8trn) in assets have called for strong action from policymakers in the fight against climate change.

The 181 investors who signed the 2009 Investor Statement on the Urgent Need for a Global Agreement on Climate are now demanding a strong and binding international treaty be signed that will reduce pollution and catalyse global investments in low-carbon technologies to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

The statement calls for the following elements to be included in a global climate change treaty:

A global target for emissions reductions of 50-85% by 2050 (1990 baseline) Developed country emissions reduction targets of 80-95% by 2050 with interim targets of 25-40% by 2020 backed up by effective national action plans Developing country action plans that deliver measurable and verifiable emission reductions Government support for energy efficient and low carbon technology Measures that support the move to an effective global carbon market, including ambition caps, fair and efficient allocation of allowances and links between different trading schemes Revisions to the Clean Development Mechanism to ensure real, permanent and verifiable emission reductions Public financing mechanisms that leverage private sector finance for investment in developing countries Measures to reduce deforestation and promote afforestation, and Support for adaptation to unavoidable climate change impacts.

"What we need is to create policies that create stable market conditions, policies that will end the boom and bust of renewable technologies like wind and water," said Mindy Lubber, president of investor network Ceres and director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) at the Climate Change Forum in New York yesterday, which was keynoted by British economist Lord Nicholas Stern.

"Without policies to encourage clean energies and discourage high polluting technologies investors are stuck at the starting gate in the green race for a low carbon economy. We want them out of the starting gate, we want them racing away in every country."

The statement comes ahead of this December's key negotiations in Copenhagen to ratify a new international climate change treaty after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

Members of the UN EPFI group include many pension funds such as UK local authority pension funds, the Swedish AP-fonden, Fira Pensions Scheme, FRR, KPA Pension and Pensionfonds Vervoer, alongside asset management houses. The complete list of signatories can be viewed on www.unepfi.org/investorstatement.

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